Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Very Touching

Sneha Mehta wrote a letter to her unborn child after surviving the terrorist attack at the Brussels Airport.

Each day the death toll from last week’s terrorist attacks in
Brussels grows. As of this morning, the number killed in the attacks at
the airport and the metro station had risen to 35. At least another 270
people were injured.Amidst this tragedy there was a life-affirming ray of hope.
On Friday CNN reported about Sneha Mehta and her husband, Samsee, who ,
according to Don Melvin, “had just flown in from Abu Dhabi to Brussels
on Tuesday when bombs went off in the airport and the ceiling started
falling on their heads.”
Thanks to their knowledge of the airport’s layout and the kindness of
strangers–a terrifically helpful cab driver who not only drove them to
the hospital but calmly talked to them the whole way– the 16-week
pregnant Sneha made it to Sint Augustinus hospital, where “there was a
beautiful moment”:

The ultrasound exam showed that
the baby — the Mehtas don’t know yet whether it is a boy or a girl —
appeared to be healthy and content, safe in the womb, sucking its thumb.

When they got back home to Antwerp, “Sneha felt she had to write a letter to her baby,” Melvin wrote.

Maybe it will be unsealed when the child is 16. Maybe later. She hasn’t decided yet.

But she needed an outlet. And she
needed, she said, to write the letter while the feelings were fresh and
raw — to capture them before they faded.

CNN reproduced the beautiful letter, which we are posting below. It is must reading. The letter begins, “Hi, Sweetheart”:

“I don’t know if we already
acknowledged this with you in person, but when you were 16 weeks old,
mum and dad were in an explosion at Brussels Airport.

“And no matter where humanity is
today, I just want to tell you that life is a wonderful thing, and the
world is really full of remarkable people.

“You didn’t just give mum and dad faith and reason to live, you gave the awareness and presence of mind like never before.

“I felt more alive than I ever
have, and I knew I had to protect you, so I was calm, composed and fully
aware that we will survive.

“When we reached Sint-Augustinus
emergency, and we saw you oblivious and sucking at your thumb at the
ultrasound, and doing your general acrobatics, all the mistrust, hate
and angst for the terrorist attack vaporized.

“I do hope with all my heart that you are born into a better world, and if not, then you do absolute best to make it that.

“You are absolutely precious to
us, and have already been a hero today. I guess the world has sent so
much love and hope your way, you owe your life to reciprocating that
goodness.